The one that I absolutely hate. My oldest grandson was 18 on Friday. My oldest granddaughter will be 19 on Tuesday. My niece is due to have her baby any day now. We’ll just have to hope that it doesn’t wait until HER birthday, which is Dec. 4. Then my birthday on the 15th, my daughter-in-law’s on the 18th, my niece Julie on the 21st, Leo’s on the 24th, Christmas, my son’s anniversary on the 27th, New Year’s Eve and then our Dutch niece’s birthday on January 7th. I get exhausted just listing them all.

Leo says he had a moment when he had to wonder if I had anything to do with it when he found a 45 foot container missing from the yard this past week. Its cargo was 2500 CASES of Gray Goose vodka. (He remembered in time that not only don’t I drive but I don’t drink, either)

I wonder if they’ve checked the Florida yards to see if a container load of orange juice is also missing.

Many people have dogs as a first line of defense for their homes. Or at least an early warning system. And most of those have realized that chaining the dog outside or leaving it in the yard doesn’t do anything to defend their homes, that the dog doesn’t feel invested or part of that home. It has no reason to bark or bite or warn.

When it lives with the family, in love and warmth and getting more than just the basics (if that), it will die to protect its pack.

Why does our government think that our military personnel should be dogs chained in the yard? Stick them out there and leave them, feed them if you think about it, take care of them as long as there isn’t some place else you want the money to go and ignore them when they become old or hurt. What incentive is there to protect the rest of us when we don’t insist that they should be part of the ‘family’?

It’s being heard more and more. If you are one of the few who aren’t sure what this is, here it is in Blaise Pascal’s own words:

“It makes more sense to believe in God than to not believe. If you believe, and God exists, you will be rewarded in the afterlife. If you do not believe, and He exists, you will be punished for your disbelief. If He does not exist, you have lost nothing either way. “

Or, in simpler terms, hedge your bets. Believe in god and you lose nothing if you’re wrong, don’t believe and suffer for eternity.

I find 3 real problems with this.

1) Which god do I believe in to make this work? Or do I have to believe in all of them equally? If I believe in the judeo/christian god and Zeus exists? Ooops. How about Krishna? I end up in the next life as a dung beetle? And what if that ‘god’ turns out to be a goddess. You know how downright mean some women can be. Think Leona Helmsley with PMS. And a headache.

2) How in the world do you make yourself believe something? You can say you believe it, you can pretend to believe it, you can go along with the crowd and nobody but you will ever know that you’re only going through the motions. I don’t think that would be acceptable even to mortal human beings, let alone an omnipotent being.

3) Dear old Blaise also said something else. Something that is much closer to the way the real world works:

Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction.

Schools that dare to teach anything in the way of sex education other than ‘don’t have sex’ lose federal funds. And the abstinence only programs flat out lie about the efficacy of condoms. They teach that condoms are ineffective at preventing disease, which is a lie. Some of the literature actually compares using a condom to playing Russian Roulette, which is a frightening, despicable, unforgivable lie. One time unprotected sex can kill you. A condom can save you.

They teach that a 43-day-old fetus is a “thinking person”, that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears. And as this teaching spreads, the rate of teenage pregnancy is once again going up; teenagers top the list of new HIV infections.

Another crime against our children. Yes, abstinence will make sure you do not contract a disease or become a parent. But trying to make it the ONLY thing the kids hear about is just plain foolish.

Some years ago, the tv show “Designing Women” did an episode about being asked to design a young friend’s funeral. He was gay, abandoned by his family and dying of AIDS. At the same time, the local school was having a debate about sex education and condoms. Mary Jo, one of the major characters took the position -for- education. Her speech was one that hit me then and I believe is even more relevant now. The words may have come out of the mouth of a character but whoever wrote them is owed a thank you. These words need to be heard by everyone who opposes preparing our kids for the real world.

“I think that it really shouldn’t matter what your personal views are about birth control, because, you see, we’re not—we’re not just talking about preventing births anymore, we’re talking about preventing deaths. 25,000 Americans have died and we’re still debating. For me, this debate is over. More important than what any civic leader or PTA or board of education thinks about teenagers having sex or any immoral act that my daughter or your son might engage in is the bottom line that I don’t think they should have to die for it.”